Sermon Tone Analysis

GETTING READY TO GO

Text: Joshua 1, 3, 7

Bobby Earls, FBI, May 24, 1998

(Gratitude to Ron Dunn for Sermon Outline and message)

As a kid I loved it when the family talked about taking a trip.

I remember Dad

bringing home road maps of the states we wanted to visit, and in the evening we would spread them on the floor and choose the easiest route and the best places to stop.

Of course, like most families, we talked more than we traveled.

But occasionally the hoped-for opportunity would come and we'd be off!

Do you know how I knew we were actually going?

When Mom made preparations to leave.

Getting ready to go was the sign--and the best part of the trip!

It was also the hardest and most important, often taking longer than the trip itself.

It's the same in the spiritual realm.

Preparation is an act of faith.

If we really believe God is going to do something, we get ready for it.

When we pray for rain we ought to carry an umbrella.

In my own spiritual pilgrimage I am discovering that God gives me only what I am prepared to receive.

After God spoke to Joshua, the new leader came away convinced God would go with them and give them the land.

He was so certain of this that he ordered the people to get ready for immediate action.

God had spoken and preparation was the evidence of their faith in that spoken word.

The Bible says: (Read 1:10-11)

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it... (Read Joshua 3:1-6)

It is the prepared people who possess the land; therefore, we need to examine

the preparations required for the trip into Canaan.

I.

A NEW DIET

"Prepare provisions", God said.

That's interesting.

Here is an entire nation,

possibly three million people, about to cross a flooding river, and what is the first thing they are to prepare?

A bridge?

That would seem reasonable.

Boats, at least.

But without a bridge or a boat in sight God told them to prepare--bread.

During the wilderness years God provided manna to eat.

Now, if you're stranded in a desert with no other food, manna is all right, but it has been highly overrated in sermons and songs.

Manna was a coarse dry, hard bread--not steak and potatoes.

It could sustain but not satisfy.

Get this: the diet that was adequate to maintain life in the desert would not nourish combat troops conquering and settling a new land.

Most of the Christians I know exist on a desert diet--just enough to keep them

alive.

But if you want to move into the land of promise and experience daily victory you must upgrade your diet and increase your intake.

I'm talking about your personal worship time with the Lord in prayer and the Word.

Much has been said about this already because I am convinced that this is the single most important factor in consistent Christian living.

How much time have you spent along with God today on your knees before an open Bible?

If you're serious about a victorious life, then determine right now that whatever the cost or sacrifice, you will establish a daily time with God in prayer and Bible study.

The strength and stamina you have in the conflicts of life will be determined by the quality of nourishment you receive from the Lord.

II.

A NEW DELAY

This part of their preparation is even more surprising than the first.

There would be a three-day delay.

But Lord, why this delay?

We've been delayed forty years already and now we're ready to go.

But God said, "Wait"

One of the things I've learned about God is that He never hurries.

The toughest thing I have to do is wait, and I hate it.

We Americans are accustomed to instant gratification: instant credit, instant comfort, and instant coffee.

Our cry is, "Lord, give me patience and give it to me right now!"

But God never wastes time, and every delay plays an important role in His plan.

God used the delay to accomplish three things.

First, it was a time of observation.

The people had to camp on the banks of the Jordan for three days--and what did they do during that time?

They watched the swollen river surging over its banks.

"We're going to cross that?" they may have whispered to one another.

"But

there's no bridge, no boats!

It can't be done!"

That's the point exactly.

God was letting

the impossibility of the task sink into their minds.

Has God ever dealt with you that way?

He has with me.

Many times He has

plopped me down beside the Jordan of my life and forced me to look at it.

The longer I

looked, the more impossible the situation became.

I would cry out for deliverance,

wondering how God could love me and yet refuse to remove the problem.

I could see

no boats, no bridges, no way of getting through the situation.

After awhile I would know

that apart from God there was no solution.

When we are convinced that only God can

get it all together, then we're ready to move.

The delay was also a time of confrontation.

Forty years earlier, twelve spies

were sent out from Kadesh-barnea.

It was their faithless report, blurted out in front of all

the people, that caused them to turn back and forfeit the land.

This time Joshua sent

out two spies, who spent these three days scouting the land.

Their report, brought

privately to Joshua, declared that God was surely with them--all the inhabitants of the

country were terrified of them.

God used the waiting period to confirm His promise.

During those frustrating delays, if we keep our eyes and ears attuned to God, He

will give you one evidence after another that He- is- capable of handling our situation.

The delay was also a time of separation.

While Moses was still alive, the tribes